A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

NewsMatch raises $7.6 million for nonprofit news organizations in 2018, setting record for individuals


NewsMatch raised $7.6 million from individual donors and a coalition of major funders for nonprofit news organizations in two months at the end of 2018. During the largest-ever grassroots fundraising campaign to support local news, over 240,000 people gave to 154 newsrooms between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31. More than 50,000 new donors supported a nonprofit newsroom for the first time.

NewsMatch is a national campaign that doubles donations at the end of the year and provides expert training, individualized coaching and an everything-included year-end fundraising campaign to newsrooms to foster stronger, more sustainable local news and investigative journalism.

In 2018, the campaign saw a 58 percent jump in total dollars raised from 2017. This momentum was also seen in other areas:

• Nonprofit news organizations are getting more successful at year-end fundraising. The average NewsMatch newsroom raised 11 percent more during the campaign in 2018 vs 2017;


• Donors are embracing giving to nonprofit news. Individuals gave more than $116 million to nonprofit news from January to December last year, a 50 percent increase over 2017.


• Small and medium-sized newsrooms saw the biggest growth in year-end support, with 30-plus percent increases in individual donors, donations, and dollars raised during NewsMatch; and


• NewsMatch was a platform for local philanthropy. Participants secured more than $675,000 in additional matching commitments from major donors and foundations during the campaign.


Participating newsrooms represent 42 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, with two-thirds focused on state or local journalism. Nearly one-third were participating in NewsMatch for the first time.

“The NKyTribune earned about $20,000 in matching funds from our second NewsMatch campaign,” said Judy Clabes, editor and publisher. “These additional revenues are significant for our nonprofit. More than that, we are grateful for the push to go after individual buy-in for support of local news.”

The NKyTribune increased both its total amount as well as the number of individual donors by about 20% over 2017, its first year as part of the campaign.
 
Since 2016, NewsMatch has helped participating newsrooms raise more than $14.8 million from local communities and partner foundations.

Working with the Institute for Nonprofit News and the News Revenue Hub, two organizations helping build more sustainable models for journalism in the U.S., NewsMatch is pioneering new approaches to supporting and strengthening local news and investigative reporting.


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